Episode 135 – Making It in the Art World by Brainard Carey / Make a Daily Contract

This was one of the first and most effective techniques I have used and still do. At the beginning of each day, start out by writing down a contract with yourself that is simple and doable. Write down a short list of things that if you accomplished, then you will feel good about yourself. There are a few stipulations to this contract that you are writing daily:

Make your to-do list small—no more than four things on it!

Agree that you will feel good if you accomplish those tasks.

Put up the list where you can see it, like on the refrigerator or the computer.

At the end of the day, look at your list and tell yourself you did what you said you were going to do, and you feel good about that. Then write down a few thoughts about how you are feeling on a page, calling it your “time diary.” At the end of your first two-week period of managing your time this way, stop and look back at what has happened. Read over your daily diary about it. What worked?